Most modern vehicles, including electric, hybrid, combustion engine-based, and autonomous vehicles, include some version of a climate control system that provides a desired level of climatic control for a passenger cabin of the vehicle. This is typically provided by the vehicle heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) system which, via a network of ducts and air registers, directs an airflow into the passenger cabin. The airflow is cleaned, filtered, heated, cooled, humidified/dehumidified, recirculated or blended with fresh air from an exterior of the vehicle, etc. according to vehicle user preference. By the climate control system, a desired level of perceived user comfort can be established.
The climate control system is typically controlled via a climate control head, being a control panel including various manual actuators. The climate control head can be provided in a variety of designs and include a variety of controls or actuators. One control typically included is for a defrost/defog setting by which build-up of condensation or frost on exterior and/or interior surfaces of a vehicle window can be prevented.
Conventionally, the defrost function of the climate control system is controlled manually via the climate control head. To implement the defrost function, the user is typically required to identify actual or potential condensation or frost on a surface of the window, to determine the proper settings for the climate control system to quickly remove the condensation or frost, and to manually implement those settings. This may be done in conjunction with operation of the vehicle wiper system (for windows so equipped) to more quickly remove condensation and/or frost.
The optimal settings for a defrost function of a climate control system are a function of a number of variables. These include dry bulb ambient air temperature, dew point temperature (i.e. the temperature at which condensation is likely to form on a window surface), ambient relative humidity, and window surface temperature. Many if not all of these variables cannot readily be discerned or calculated by a user, and so typically defrost airflow temperature and relative humidity are set to a default level. Likewise, defrost airflow speed (i.e. HVAC blower speed) is either set to a default speed or set manually by a user according to perceived speed of clearing of condensation/frost.
However, if the defrost function of the climate control system is not set to optimal settings, clearing of condensation and/or frost may be delayed, and a user may attempt to operate the vehicle before such clearing is completed. This results in a potentially unsafe situation. In another potential situation, for autonomous vehicles (i.e. vehicles configured to sense their environment and navigate between geographical locations with little to no human input) a user may not be available to select desired defrost function settings.
To address these and other problems, the present disclosure describes systems and methods for automated control of a vehicle window defroster function of a climate control system. The systems and methods rely on a variety of inputs to determine and actuate optimal settings for the defrost function, all without requiring human input.